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Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān, Dev Puruṣa Madhe, Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān kī, Sanātana Dharma kī. Welcome again to our beautiful ashram, Guruji’s ashram, Swami Madhavanī’s ashram, and the most beautiful city, Vienna. Even more beautiful here in Vienna are all of you. Thank you for coming. It is a most beautiful time, what we call autumn, akin to the seasons described in the Upaniṣads or Vedic culture, according to the principle of the āśrama. "Ashram" means many things. Where you leave your home is also an ashram. We all know there are four Vedas, and within these four Vedas there are sub-Vedas, like Nāḍī Yoga, Gāndharva Veda. Then come the four Puruṣārthas. And now the word is coming: Puruṣa and Prakṛti, because this is the time of the Divine Mother. Well, which mother is not divine? Every child says, "My mother is the best mother." Every creature loves its mother very much, because it is said blood is thicker than water. That’s what we call the blood relation. The relation means oneness, and we should know and adore the relation. So it doesn’t matter if one is a human or another creature; a mother is a mother. Prakṛti is nature. Prakṛti is that which is created by God and is itself sustainable. Prakṛti can also mean environment or vegetation. But there is another Prakṛti, called individual Prakṛti. Parents can give us birth, but they cannot give us this prakṛti. Now, what do I mean here about prakṛti? It is said that there are three brothers or sisters; one is very kind and humble, one is very extroverted and active, and one is introverted, prone to depression, or very selfish and easily offended. Sometimes we can’t change them. This is called his or her Prakṛti. This is not only with humans; it can also be with animals. There are two horses. They have one mother and one father, but both babies have a different nature. So Prakṛti means nature—the inherent nature of a person. Then there is a third, different kind of Prakṛti, called Prakṛti Prakopa. Prakopa means disaster, something which brings imbalance. For instance, someone is very kind and humble, but if you do something, that person will attack you. This Prakopa can exist in animals or humans. Prakopa can also exist on another level, as with Indra for water. Prakopa can also be a curse. Prakṛti Prakopa manifests as earthquakes, hurricanes, Ati Bhraṣṭi (too much rain and flood), or volcanic activity, or drought—no rain, no rain, no rain. In the past, there were many, many years with no rain, and then came earthquakes. Similarly, last year in the Himalayas by Kedārnāth, the river Sarasvatī was covered under the earth. The Gaṅgā overflowed; there was a flood, and within no time, hundreds of villages and hundreds of thousands of people and animals—elephants, deer, wild cows—all were washed away. That’s called Prakopa. Prakopa has its reason. It is caused mostly by humans. So, Prakṛti and Puruṣa. Now, Puruṣa does not mean merely men, male, or the masculine, though the masculine is also Puruṣa. The feminine is Śakti or Prakṛti, but in reality, it is different. Puruṣa comes from Puruṣārtha. Puruṣārtha means to be active, doing something. In these actions, we either do positive or we do negative. Sometimes we think we are doing something positive. But there is another Prakṛti in a person, called selfishness—ego, pride, greed, or the desire for fame. So even with positive thinking and doing something positive, the background ambition is different. That is not true puruṣārtha. Sometimes things are negative, but they can be positive because we are suffering. Yet our suffering should yield good things for others and for Prakṛti, for nature. Suffering means we are tired, we can’t work, we are hungry, we have little money, we are working very hard. For us, maybe we think, "Why am I doing all this?" But the fruits are in favor of each and every entity. So every thought, every vision, every inspiration has some cause, and often we don’t understand what that is because it is our prakṛti, our nature, that we cannot change. We can change if we think according to the great scriptural teachings; then it’s completely different. Purushārtha is hard work to achieve something positive. For that, you cannot do it in one year, two years, three years, or four years. It takes years and years. If something is very clear for you, then the difficulties which come on the path are nothing. We proceed through our love, our kindness, our mercy, non-violence, without harming or damaging others. So Prakṛti is the nature, and Puruṣārtha cannot be done without Buddhi. Buddhi is also a Prakṛti; it is not masculine, it is feminine. Bodha is masculine. When we say Boddha or Buddhi, Viveka is that—it is masculine. So Viveka, Buddhi, and the mind are very neutral in between. Thus, Puruṣa and Prakṛti, consciousness and nature, are together, which humans have to understand. So Caturpuruṣārtha: there are four kinds of work. This work has to be done among all of us. These four Puruṣārthas are called the four main pillars of life: dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. Dharma is not a religion, but what is your dharma? What is the dharma of a king? What is the dharma of a prime minister, a president? What is the dharma of the father, mother, children, everyone? And so, dharmo rakṣita rakṣitaḥ: if you follow dharma, even if it is very hard, you should follow. Then dharma will follow you, will protect you. Difficulties are there. Artha is wealth, comfort. There are two kinds of artha: material and spiritual. Jñānārjā means earn your knowledge. Material wealth will not go with you; it will remain here. Jñāna will go with you. Jñāna is immortal, and worldly wealth is limited; it will remain here. But this earth—for what? Are you earning something? If you do only for a limited group or family, then it is selfish. If you do for all, then this earth becomes a Dharma. This Dharma becomes a Jana. Without Jana, we cannot do. This is not easy all the time. The king was known as the father of the whole nation, and the king would be very sad if one family went hungry. The principle was: sleeping only after everyone has eaten. There were times, even days on end, when kings did not eat anything because of drought or other calamities; they gave back to the people. The king is not there to enjoy, thinking, "I am the king." The king is the servant of the servant. The people can sleep peacefully, but the king will not sleep peacefully because he or she has the responsibility of the whole kingdom. That is Dharma as well as Puruṣārtha. Kāma: either you just enjoy your worldly life, or you work hard for the sake of protecting every creature, protecting Prakṛti. For the protection of Prakṛti, puruṣārtha is there. Without puruṣārtha, it cannot happen. After that, through that, ātma-jñāna is mokṣa. Mokṣa-mūlaṁ guru-kṛpā. Finally, that Ācārya, Ācārya Devo Bhava—that Ācārya who gives us Brahmavidyā—that one is God. Ācārya Devobhāva. The Upaniṣad says: first, God. Mātṛ Devo Bhava—the mother is the first God. The Upaniṣad doesn’t say which mother, but mother. Pitṛ Devo Bhava—then the father. Then comes your teacher, the elements, water, all these, and then Ācārya Devabhāva. So: dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. For these four puruṣārthas, they established four āśramas. "Ashram" means not only like this ashram where we are sitting; this is also an ashram. The first āśrama is called brahmacarya āśrama. The student, vidyārthī: vidyā artha. Vidyā artha, vidyārthī. "Artha" here means wealth. Which kind of wealth? Knowledge, Sarasvatī, learning. What you have learned, what you have in your brain, no one can steal away. But if you have something in your hands, it can be taken from you. So earthly abilities, knowledge—whatever we learn, vidyārthī. So jñānārtha praveśa: you come to that āśrama or the school or gurukula, jñānārtha, to gain the knowledge of wisdom. School, jñānārtha praveśa. Praveśa means entry. When you have learned... Vidyā is that knowledge where there is no avidyā. Avidyā is ignorance, and vidyā is knowledge. When there is vidyā, then there is no duality, no difference, no negative thoughts. Vidyā, and therefore vidyārthī. When a vidyārthī comes, in that time it was customary to go to your door for bhikṣā. A vidyārthī must go for bhikṣā, but now the world has changed. The situation has changed. If one day a Vidyarthi didn’t come to someone’s door for food, the whole family, husband and wife, would not eat the whole day and be very sad. "What sin have we done that today at our door there was not a brahmacārī for bhikṣā?" They were happy to give. Bhikṣā does not mean beggars. That was a different saṁskṛti culture. So, when you have learned, gained knowledge—jñāna-artha praveśaḥ, welcoming, entry into the school—then sevārtha prasthāna, then for the sevā, serving. For what do you have the knowledge? What is the use of your knowledge if you don’t serve, if you can’t help? Who is the beggar? It is said a beggar is one who cannot give. Millionaires want to be billionaires, and billionaires want to be the first billionaires. If you go to them to ask for a donation to build a temple, they will just not give you an appointment to meet them because they will think, "That was money I gave; I am not on the top line of the richest." But what will you do with it? Within no time, heart attack, Hari Om. Yes, now you are on the highest level, where in Sūkṣma Loka, the reach is that of one who never said no. Give, give... Dharma, karma, artha—all are inside. It was a very interesting thing I observed myself for more than 20 years, or 18 years in London. There is a railway station called Waterloo, and there was a shop. The owner of the shop was my bhakta. At the railway station there were many so-called poor people—I would not say beggars, but poor people, I’m sorry. When people were going into the train or coming out, someone gave them some money. At lunchtime, they all gathered together and were having lunch. So one man from these poor people went to buy something in the shop—water, or maybe bread or something for all. And there came one man, maybe he was not a beggar, some rich man, and he bought something. He bought something, and the bill was £150, but he had only £130. So he told the shop’s owner, "Please take some things away again, because I have only 130 pounds." And the poor man who was standing at the railway station with his cap or something said, "No, no... please don’t reduce anything from his bag. Here is twenty pounds. I give you one pound." He said, "Sir, please go, take it." This man was so surprised. You see the heart of them? They are not poor. They are generous. But also, as a result, that man, whenever he came and went to the railway, always gave something. But they didn’t ask him to give. This is how rich they are—those who have the richness of heart. The poor in heart are they who always want to have more and more and more. So brahmacarya āśram means the life of the student, and the life of the student is only to study. But now it’s all different. Why do your children... all the time sitting with computer games? You can’t even... They ask them, "We stopped and come for eating." Parents have no right to say anything. Then comes the grass classroom. This is a poor third. Second āśrama: gṛhastha. Gṛha means house; gṛha praveśa: enter into the house, the household. So now you have the responsibility of the household; you are married, you have a wife, children, etc. Householders have more responsibility than the other three ashrams. So those who have a family, children, now have to work to feed your family as well as others. Anyone who comes should not go empty-handed or hungry. So this is gṛhasthāśrama; it is a tapasyā. If you cannot fulfill your dharma, your gṛhasthāśrama will break. What we call the marriage breaks, divorce takes place. So such a distraction comes in the family, and we know now how many children are without complete parents. How many marriage breaks? How many flats are you changing? It is completely we humans who are the guilty ones. So, Gṛhasthāśram is the biggest āśram, the greatest āśram. Everyone would go to the gṛhasthāśram to ask for something. And there is the puruṣārtha involved in it. You work, you work. There is one poem: "Sai itna dijiye, jisme kutumb samāy." O God, please give me that much that I can feed my family and have everything. And anyone comes, any sādhu or anyone comes to my door, should not go away hungry. So first is that when one comes, ask first for the water, bring the water. Don’t ask, "Do you want to drink water?" If you say, "Do you want to drink water?" or just offer the water, it is different. So we never ask, "Do you want to drink water?" Inside this mentality of the people, they will say, "I’m not a beggar of your water." So never say, "Do you want to drink water?" Just bring the water. "Please have some water," that’s it. And you don’t say, "Do you want to eat something?" But, "Please come and eat," or, "What kind of vegetable should I prepare for you?" That is different. "Do you want to eat? How much should I give you? Do you want more?" These words we don’t use. Here is a common language, but inside, the feeling is different: offering and asking. These are the two things. If I don’t want to drink water, I will say, "Thank you, I have no thirst." Okay, you take water back. But how will you offer the water if you don’t have a glass? How will you get a glass if you don’t have any money? That’s it; everything will cost you as a household. This is the second āśram, very, very important. Everything is depending on the gṛhastha āśrama. Everyone is looking towards the gṛhastha āśrama. Yes, that is it. Now we also have families in the countryside, in this country and in other countries—the farmers—and they always offer great things. It is not that the culture is dead, but in big cities it is different, very different. In every house, there was a water pot. So if you are very thirsty, you pass by, you can drink the water. Now we have a railway station, and somewhere they are putting the airport, and there you can drink water now. Yes, it’s a tradition still not disappeared. After that, the third āśrama is vanaprastha āśrama. Vanaprastha āśrama means retirement. When you retire, before you retire, you share with all your children equally—for daughter, for your son, for all equally—and you just go somewhere, to some guru kūṭa or some place in the forest, or within the heart, and that’s all. Not earning anything more, have a nice vegetable garden. How much do we need? If we have one handful of rice and a little salad, it’s enough. Meditate again. What do you spend it? Your knowledge from gṛhasthāśrama—now you practice sādhanās more. That’s called tyāga and tapasyā. Before you had bhakti and jñāna, and now you have tyāga and tapasyā. Tyāga means renunciation. It’s not easy to renounce, my dear. We will say heart-fed in the... someone heart-fed in the boat? Yeah? "I earn my bread very hard, and what did children think? This would work and go? I’m not leaving from my flat away, yes, my God." So there’s a—this feeling is gone. So what do you need? Retire, of course, in the parents’ and children’s duties. Of course, you don’t just tell your parents to take an empty bag and hurry home. "Bye, bye, go home." Somewhere in the forest, it’s not like that. It was not like that. They had enough. They had everything. What do they need? But some may need medicine enough, Āyurveda herbs, good air, no heating because there’s some wood, and no eating too much. There’s herbs and some rice, okay? And had one cow for milk to drink. That’s all. Only the milk is more than enough. Anything that was a simple life. After that, but still, there is attachment: my children, my son, yes, my grandchildren. You are old, but you said, "Yes, my son, you visit me, but how’s my grandchild? He’s going to school, and he’s married already? Oh, did he get a child? Then I have a..." Golden stairs to heaven. When my grandchild got a grandchild, that’s a moha attachment, always pulling back. But after that comes sannyāsa. In sannyāsa, then it is chidānanda-rūpaha śivo’haṁ śivo’haṁ. That time is completely detached. All are my brothers, all are my sisters, all are my father and my mothers, vasudeva-kuṭumbakam—the whole world is my family. Earth is my bed and sky is my roof. Air is my nourishment. I am the ātmā. That far. Our aim in human life, according to Vedic culture—the Vedas, Upaniṣads, etc.—is that for that purpose, spiritual sādhanā is very important for us, which we should do. So, four puruṣārthas: dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa; four āśramas; and the seasons. Each season gives us knowledge. So, spring is brahmacarya, summer is gṛhasthāśrama, autumn is renunciation (retirement), and winter is sannyāsa, ariyobh, darśat—that’s it. All these four are for Prakṛti. So Puruṣa and Prakṛti both have different meanings. Śiva and Śakti have different meanings. Those who have no knowledge, who are ignorant, they make this separation, these dualities between the feminine and masculine power, and this and that. That is ignorance. When in every atom (kaṇ-kaṇ) God is living, then with whom should we make it what it is? Love each and every entity. If not more, then that much, as much as you love thyself. Mahāprabhujī said, always after prayer and morning prayers, when we get up, we say, "O Lord, through my body, through my words, and through my thinking, if any mistake happens, forgive me." The body is mortal. The body requires many things. Many things happen, good and bad. But we are not bound to this. It’s only for a while. This cloth is over the body. When we are very much sweating, and we look forward to coming home and changing the dress, and going under the water and putting on fresh dress, similarly, all this which is exhausted in this world is stinky. What kind of stink? Karma, blaming, jealousy, hate, greed, ego—this jīvātmā in every one of us can’t breathe anymore. It has a longing to go out, but this body doesn’t want to let go because it is given for some purpose, and that we will talk tomorrow. Wish you all the best. And blessings of Maa Prabhujī. Om Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai. Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī Jai. Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai. Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai.